Nick Brandt

 Polka Gallery is pleased to present for the first time in France the tetralogy The Day May Break by Nick Brandt. For years, the British photographer has been raising awareness about the destruction of ecosystems and the climate change — a global tragedy in which both humans and animals are immersed.

In this long-term project, Brandt further refines his skills as a portraitist. In 2020 and 2022, for the first two chapters created in Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Bolivia, the artist met with people affected by environmental disasters — droughts, floods, and wildfires. Climate-displaced individuals, these men and women are just as uprooted as the animals that share the foreground of the photographs. Rescued from the wild as a result of several factors — habitat destruction, poisoning or poaching — the survival of these animals depends on human care in the sanctuaries and conservancies they live in now, and where the photographs were taken. These animals can never be re-released back into the wild. Because they were nearly all habituated to humans, it was safe for strangers to be close to them. Humans and animals were photographed together in the same frame and at the same time. The dense mist surrounding the subjects — artificially created — symbolizes the urgency of the climate crisis. The house is burning, and we can no longer look away.

Chapter Three takes place in Fiji. There, the photographer on South Pacific Islanders impacted by rising oceans from climate change. Photographed in-camera underwater in the ocean off the coast of the Fijian islands, the local people in these images are representatives of the many people whose homes, land and livelihoods will be lost in the coming decades as the water rises.

In 2024, the final chapter of The Day May Break heads to Jordan. In this country marked by water scarcity, families of Syrian refugees are forced to move several times a year in search of work where rainfall occurs. Captured together, they embody a symbol of unity and resilience in the face of environmental challenges.

In contrast to consumerist photography, Nick Brandt builds his universe cautiously and deliberately, using props that deepen the symbolic dimension of his portraits. Humans and animals pose together before his lens like shared victims of the Anthropocene.

The titles of the photographs name the beings who inhabit them, giving a face to those too often lost within alarming statistics. From the first to the last chapter, The Day May Break has been conceived as a warning to our own species. It is also a call to resist this dire fate: hope remains in sight — like a suspended lightbulb — within reach of our hands.

In agreement with the artist, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Nick Brandt’s prints during the exhibition will be donated to the Grazie Fund, supporting the “Horizon” project, which promotes the revitalization of rural areas through the settlement of refugees based on their skills and expertise.